Category: Society & Politics

Feb 7, 2013 — Did I ever tell you about the time I got asked to make a series of ebooks promoting a scam? Expressing fraudulent claims and selling bunk products to fix imaginary problems “proven” by pseudoscience? That’s right, folks, I got approached by the purveyors of “Proton Patch,” another bullshit product designed to protect you from electromagnetic radiation. Pull up a chair.

Dec 11, 2010 — Chapter 1 opens with general overview of how animals differ from one another under domestication and yet in many cases come from one source species. He claims this as a promising place to look for explanations of how so many species came to be. Here, let me summarize it all for ya.

Dec 10, 2010 — In celebration of Darwin in Malibu, which I’m directing at the Generic Theater in March, I am finally reading The Origin of Species and posting chapter-by-chapter summaries and commentary. This part covers the history of the book, plus its title page and introduction. That’s right: I read it so you don’t have to!

Feb 24, 2009 — Anyone who’s met Nick S. knows he’s smart, insightful, and delightfully droll. When he calls you out on something, it’s worth taking a hard look at yourself. He left a comment on my last post, Three Vague Words on Pottery Prove the Bible True, in which I claimed it was a wild leap of exaggeration to take a dubious archaeological artifact as evidence of the literal truth of a parable. He objected, and all of a sudden we were in the middle of an awesome conversation!

Oct 7, 2008 — In a just system, doing good and being happy are one. In a happy marriage, for example, doing good for your spouse makes you happy. But in a miserable one, doing good makes you miserable. That’s how you know you’re in a dysfunctional relationship: when making the right choice results in misery. If telling your partner the truth usually hurts them, the system is broken. You must lie to spare them. You now have to choose between being good and being happy. Here’s what I think about it.

Jul 31, 2008 — Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a pseudo-documentary which was released in 2008. It invents two false premises: that Intelligent Design (Creationism) is a scientific concept, and that its advocates are being persecuted by Big Science for their beliefs. While it’s possible those things are true, this movie doesn’t show either of them. Here’s why.

Apr 18, 2008 — Uncertainty is the exhilarating fuel of scientific advancement. Vigorous, long-lasting debates between proponents of competing theories are proof of its thorough commitment to discovery and—like competition in the marketplace—propel constant research, advancement, and improvement. Through compelling objections and competing theories, scientists profoundly strengthen any position which ultimately prevails. Here’s why that’s different from “intelligent design.”